'Israel is not occupying Judea and Samaria

Poll: 70% of Israelis don't view Israeli control of Judea and Samaria as 'occupation.'

Arutz Sheva Staff, 11/06/17 09:26

Israeli children in Judean community

Flash 90

Tel Aviv University's Dr. Nimrod Rosler worked together with "Save Israel. Stop the Occupation" Founder Professor Daniel Bar-Tal on a survey aimed at understanding how Jewish Israelis see Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria and Diaspora Jews' involvement in the Israeli-Arab conflict.

The two polled 500 Jewish Israels in September 2016, as part of Dr. Rosler's research on the Diaspora and the State of Israel and a society involved in intractable conflict.

Prof. Daniel Bar-Tal (political psychologist) is a leading researcher in the world regarding intractable conflicts (in 2013 published a seminal contribution Intractable conflict: Socio-Psychological foundations and dynamics-2013 CUP).

According to the survey, the percentage of Israelis who view Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria dropped from 51% in 2004 to 30% in 2016.

In other words, 70% of Israelis do not believe Israel is "occupying" Judea and Samaria at all.

Those who believe Israel is an "occupier" tend to support the potentially dangerous two-state solution, while the 70% who do not believe in the "occupation" usually reject the "peace process."

The poll also showed that most Jewish Israelis (66.8%) believe the Israeli-Arab conflict has a negative influence on Diaspora Jews, while 24.9% believe it has "no influence" and 8.4% believe it has a positive influence.

However, 69% of Israeli Jews believe the Israeli-Arab conflict "does not harm or harms a little" the situation of Jews living abroad, while 31.1% said it causes harm.

Regarding whether Israel's control in Judea and Samaria harms Israeli democracy, 67% said it either "does not harm or harms a little," while 33% said it "harms" Israel's democracy.

53.5% of respondents said Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria "does not harm or harms a little" the unity of the Jewish people in Israel, while 46.5% said it does cause harm.

When questioned about whether it harms budget, welfare services, education, and health, 53.3% said "yes" while 46.8% said "no or a little."

However, 55.1% said Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria "does not harm" Palestinian Arabs or or harms them "a little" the Palestinian Arabs, while 44.9% said it certainly harms them.